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Weekend Fun; A Morning at the Markets

With a little 8 month old in the H&D team, there are no sleep-ins these days and weekends seem to bring out even more of the morning mischievousness in little Miss Maya. But we’ve made the most of our early rises and have settled into a weekend routine that works out well for everyone in the family; an early morning wander through our local weekend markets.

Local markets are a mecca for a quick and delicious breakfast, a nice brew of coffee and a slow wander through many stalls of cute, quirky and inexpensive items for everyone in the family. Even Maya’s Daddy. who was a tad resistant at first, came around and ended up coming away with quite a loot for himself in one of our first excursions; we can safely say that he is a convert too!

Maya loves hanging in her baby harness and getting a full view of all the action with her Dad.

Mummy generally runs ahead, arms flailing about and gasping at every turn with overjoyed exacerbation and questions such as “Hey look at this massive vintage nautical chest! Don’t you think it would look great for storing all our towels in the main bathroom?!”. Such questions are usually met with baby giggles from Maya who is amused at Mummy’s animation and enthusiasm.

Maya’s Dad is understandably not quite as overjoyed at the prospect of cramming one more thing into the house and replies from a place of pure logic, which he attempts to put sensitively “Ummm… since we can barely fit ourselves in the bathroom, I don’t think a nautical chest is going to work”. And similarly, other such requests like “I need this pile of seven vintage suitcases as a functional storage feature in Maya’s room,” was met with “Maya doesn’t fit in Maya’s room!”.

Okay, Okay… so the markets may not be a perfect H&D dream as we can’t buy everything we see and want (come to think of it, it can almost be torturous in that regard). But it is great for creative ideas and to ear-mark bits and pieces for gifts, around the home an in our case, for H&D transformations as well as home and event styling projects. Nothing is stock standard and there are real gems that can shine in the correct decor context.

Apart from homewares and furniture, there are also local growers that bring in their fresh and locally grown produce. It’s such a nicer alternative to grocery stores. There is also a range of unique handmade crafts on display and you can score some really nice plants from people that run little home nurseries.

Every week there are a variety of different things on display, so it is best to go with an open mind and not something specific you are after. But guaranteed, you will find at least one quirky item that you love at each visit. You’ll only end up spending some loose change on it, and the adventure of the markets will kick start your weekend with a very creative jump start.

We try and take Maya’s Grandma and Grandpa along with us on some days and make it a little weekend occasion. The best thing is that since they start early, you’re usually done by 10am and can spend the rest of the day going about your usual weekend activities without any disruptions to your schedule. Maya prefers to kick back on the couch and get Grandpa to read her a book she found at the markets or take a little ride in her vintage rocking horse with her friend Boo the bear. We love introducing her to vintage and quirky toys and books early to mix up the usual repertoire of new stock-standard toys for kids.

Take a look at our pictures from the local markets near us and hope they inspire you to add this little outing to your weekend schedule. Look at your local classifieds for markets, school fetes and such and try something different with your family and friends this weekend.